Spatial representation in the brain

cosmos 18th September 2017 at 1:48pm
Cognitive neuroscience

Place Cells, Grid Cells, and the Brain's Spatial Representation System

More than three decades of research have demonstrated a role for hippocampal place cells in representation of the spatial environment in the brain. New studies have shown that place cells are part of a broader circuit for dynamic representation of self-location. A key component of this network is the entorhinal grid cells, which, by virtue of their tessellating firing fields, may provide the elements of a path integration–based neural map. Here we review how place cells and grid cells may form the basis for quantitative spatiotemporal representation of places, routes, and associated experiences during behavior and in memory. Because these cell types have some of the most conspicuous behavioral correlates among neurons in nonsensory cortical systems, and because their spatial firing structure reflects computations internally in the system, studies of entorhinal-hippocampal representations may offer considerable insight into general principles of cortical network dynamics.

Design Principles of the Hippocampal Cognitive Map

Place cells, and Grid cells

Edvard and May-Britt Moser: A journey into entorhinal cortex

video explanation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pATzOJLptGo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdCrZzoA8S4

Neural Mechanisms of Spatial Cognition and Imagination

Spatial firing of hippocampal place cells in blind rats

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661310002111

neural spatial info and immersiveness (theta rhythms), implications to Virtual reality